Passenger leukocyte

In tissue and organ transplantation, the passenger leukocyte theory is the proposition that leucocytes within a transplanted allograft sensitize the recipient's alloreactive T-lymphocytes, causing transplant rejection.

The concept was first proposed by George Davis Snell and the term coined in 1968 when Elkins and Guttmann showed that leukocytes present in a donor graft initiate an immune response in the recipient of a transplant.

See also

• History of immunology

Further reading

• Audet, Maxime; Panaro, Fabrizio; Piardi, Tullio; Huang, Ping; Cag, Murat; Cinqualbre, Jacques; Wolf, Philippe (2008). "Passenger Lymphocyte Syndrome and Liver Transplantation". Clinical and Developmental Immunology. 2008: 715769. doi:10.1155/2008/715769. PMC 2652582. PMID 19277202.
• Demetris, AJ; Murase, N; Rao, AS; Fung, JJ; Starzl, TE (1995). "The dichotomous functions of passenger leukocytes in solid-organ transplantation". Advances in Nephrology from the Necker Hospital. 24: 341–54. PMC 2987699. PMID 7572418.